Struggling to Pray

Written by Grant Lowe

There are SO many things I could've written about over the past month. But I've forgotten about them all. So they must have not been worthwhile.

I refuse to write many of my own thoughts at this point. I hear them too much. I don't want you to have hear them too much. I do want to confess that praying is very laboring. Well, that's a fact. It's probably the thing I want to do the most of, but not disciplined to do it the most. Ronnie Deal had some wise things to say about prayer Monday in a meeting. I am not quoting him, but he pretty much said that we won't get far reading about prayer, but rather we will learn about prayer by praying. He said it's a lifelong learning and he doesn't fully understand it. I agree with him. I was about to say the same thing but he cut me off

I want to share with you some qoutes from a book on prayer. It won't get you far, but doesn't mean it won't get you anywhere. The name of the book is the path of CELTIC PRAYER - An Ancient Way to Everyday Joy. The Celts lived in uncertain and dangerous days of high infant-mortality rates, leprosy and plagues. They prayed continually out of the reality of their lives.

"The Celts found God no casual diversion. They were too needy to talk about spiritual things over tea cups and pastries."
"In desperate times, living becomes an altar where you pray and sing because the only good news of the day is that God lives longer than you do."
"Among some Protestants, there seems to be a new Christ who is less demanding, and who seems to exist only to coddle the doubtful and to make sure that believers get all the goodies they seek for their secular lives."
"The Celtics took sin seriously because they took God seriously. The self-sufficient, on the other hand, see God as a mere topic of discussion. Therefore, only the needy really have God. To believe in God is to see yourself as both sinful and needy. Why is this so important? For this reason: the needy confess."
"We can never achieve union with God by clinging to our self-sufficiency. Recognizing and admitting our need in confession creates a heart cry for oneness."

Both Ronnie and Tom McCone mentioned that they think Satan wants to keep us from praying because it's where we get our power to live for Christ. For instance, I've wanted to spend an extended period of time today praying, but instead I wrote this.

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